1. HarryGoLocky

   9

   This is such a refreshing album! After hearing some of the complaints of this album it's like people didn't know what to expect from this band! They are a folk-rock band, why are people surprised that they released an album that has drawn so much reference and style from other folk bands! It is a mixture of powerful and heavy set songs that make you want to just move, and some amazingly heartfelt ballads. It is not quite the perfect album that "Sigh No More" was but it I would happily listen to this over the mediocrity of modern music, the senseless and endless drones that you hear on the radio (Guetta, Skrillex, Rita Ora et al)
   
   Each song has a different meaning to the last and as a complete album the deluxe version is simply beautiful!… Expand

   • Helpful? 4 of 6 users said Yes.
2. Alex1986

   8

   Babel is, unfortunately, worse than Sigh no More. But that doesn´t make it bad in any way. It´s, from a critical standpoint, a solid album. Its BIG difference from Sigh No More is that Babel is really forgettable (in the sense that it isn´t really catchy as its predecessor) and can very oftenly get boring. Songs are kinda same sounding and don´t seem as diverse in melody as the first album. In this regard, the album is bordering poor.
   
   However, the positives outshine the negatives in Babel. Lyrically, it´s a 10 out of 10. As always the band puts together amazing poetry to the songs. The first one depended heavily on influence by Shakespear´s writing, as well as quoting from the bible a couple of times. Babel improves on this, shaking off the dependence and making great lyrics from scratch. Song structure is also improved, changing up the verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus structure which was EVERYWHERE in Sigh No More. Babel is much more varied in that sense. Production is also a bit "cleaner" than in Sigh No More. If this is positive or negative depends on the listener.
   
   All in all, while I´d give Sigh No More a 9.1, Babel is more of a 7.7 (8 here in Metacritic, I guess). But while Sigh No More could be listened several times, Babel I doubt I personally will hear much more. It is critically good, but isn´t really memorable. Maybe it´ll grow on me later, but for now, it´s kind of a disappointment.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 2 users said Yes.
3. gbbm

   6

   First, I have to say that this is not a bad album, at all. In fact, the lyrics are great, the rythms catchy and the vocals are amazing. That being said, I'm a tad disappointed in this record. I knew the band would not change their style (and I would not want that by any means), but my opinion is that there is such a redundancy in the songs, that not only do I feel like almost all the tracks sound the same, it also feels like it could be "Sigh no more - part 2". I LOVED Sigh no more, so that's not the issue, but I wish they'd have explored, or innovate their potential. In fact, I feel as if after their success with their first album, they were aiming more radio-time, more exposure (I can't criticize them for that, though), which lead to somewhat catchy, less original songs... less M&S, to be short. I do think the songs, individually, are good. The issue is when you listen to the whole album, it feels repetitive. After listening to the record, I only felt like putting "Sigh no more" back on my turntable... Sadly, I expected more of their second album, especially since I loved their first one so much. All in all, this is a good album, great songs, great vocals and intrumental bits, BUT it feels like an arena-based album, less original, more catchy, more encline to meet everyone's tastes. I love this band, so I really wish they don't become another not-so original indie band losing their originality to fit the radio mold. Still, I'm not disappointed I bought the vinyl: good album, just not up to expectations!… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
4. OrangeOcean

   3

   Almost the same instrumental performance in every song makes the album sound like one song's different versions. So totally no need to listen to the whole album but the only brilliant track "I will wait".Actually, there isn't a song that is awful, but except "I will wait", not even a song that is memorable.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.

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